The average Vancouverite is struggling and choking over the cost of living. But sensitivities around race have stifled an important debate about how much foreign home ownership is impacting the city.

* The New Yorker is not the only recent article about this issue. Forbes magazine recently published this as part of an article on global real estate prices.

Everyone knows about the high-end condos and houses in the likes of London, New York, Beverly Hills and Vancouver selling for outrageous amounts to price-insensitive BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) buyers (only to sit eerily empty thereafter like the land of the living dead). According to Jeff Meyers of Meyers Research, in Irvine, CA, over 80% of the sales over the past year were to Chinese buyers. Not coincidentally, Fitch Ratings claims Irvines Orange County is the most overpriced county in the country.(Forbes, May 20, 2014)

Andy Yan at Bing Thom Architects suggests in The New Yorker that it may be time for city officials to begin looking at charging foreigners a premium to purchase homes in Vancouver. Others have suggested a tax on vacant properties and condos, or on financial transactions. What Garossino wants is, at a minimum, an open dialogue about the issue, similar to what is happening in other cities with the same foreign ownership issues.

But that is only going to happen if politicians dare to rock a boat full of wealthy, local property developers and realtors.

<quoted text>you are beneath me... I will not reply to your post, unless you type something I feel worthy of replying todo not attempt to contact me again... or else I might not higher you to work for me in the future

<quoted text>this is a bulboard..its is well known, I tend to type and I dont look back...plus you know what they say once you start arguing grammar and Spelling...you know you have lost the debate...to be honest I did see the error... but then if I respected trash like you I would have taken the time to fix it...I would go and make a correction post (but then it was already a few post on already...but then I dont respect white trash like you who is getting DOMINATED by the Asians these days anyways...Chinese are buying up all your houses... and Dominating you"its hire not higher"okay white trashlol

Here in B.C., China figures prominently in debates about the construction of new pipelines to carry oil and fracked gas destined for Asian markets. It doesnt help that for years, Vancouverites have accused Chinese people, both local and abroad, of snapping up Vancouver properties and making homes in the city unaffordable.

David Wong wonders why theres so much rhetoric around the now-delayed plan to hire around 200 workers from China to work in a coal mine in northern B.C. The Vancouver architect pointed out that there is silence regarding the federal governments plan to increase the annual quota for young workers from Ireland by 1,000, to 6,350, in 2013. Starting in 2014, the number of spaces for temporary Irish workers will rise to 10,000.

The Chinese are just an easy group to single out, Wong, author of the 2012 book Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America, told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

Joey Hartman is the president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council. Shes not seeing any evidence of an increase in anti-Chinese views either. What she perceives is the attention being paid to China as an economic force. It is catching people by surprise, Hartman told the Straight by phone.

Focusing on the flap over the Chinese coal miners, historian Jim Wong-Chu noted that in some ways, its a throwback, like it or not.

Every once in a while, this kind of thing rears its head and people that have these underlying feelings sometimes will become more vocal, Wong-Chu told the Straight in a phone interview.

University of Manitoba academic David Camfield stressed that recent events should be understood within the context of Canadas record in dealing with early Chinese immigration.

All this racist history has left its mark on Canadian society, and it affects how people interpret these issues today, Camfield, an associate professor of labour studies, told the Straight in a phone interview. He noted that the perceived re-emergence of Sinophobia is probably true.

An increase in growth in Chinas gross domestic product (GDP) would have a positive impact on the housing market in Vancouver, argues a Conference Board of Canada report released March 24.

The influence of Chinas economic state on the citys housing market should not be underestimated; the report argues that the Chinese economy is one of the biggest drivers behind housing sales activity in the area. It rivals not only the citys population growth but also the employment environment and mortgage interest rates in terms of what determines the state of the market.

The chief implication is that observers need to pay attention to Chinas economic health when assessing the outlook for Vancouvers housing market, the report said.

This analysis suggests that Vancouvers housing markets would perhaps welcome a pickup in Chinese GDP growth more than a rise in local employment and about the same as lower Canadian interest rates.

If the Chinese economy is indeed improving, this could help rekindle both new and resale demand in the Lower Mainland.

The report argues that when looking back over the past couple decades, periods of high and low sales in Vancouver home sales can be correlated to similar trends in Chinas economy.

yes lets all hope for a set back in China, so the Chinese can run back over here...

..

Nearly a quarter of Vancouvers condos are empty, but Gen Y still cant afford to buy in

By Steve Mertl | Daily Brew  Thu, 21 Mar, 2013

almost one in four Vancouver condos is empty or occupied by non-residents, according to an analysis by University

They're called Generation Y, aged 19 to 33, and the Y could stand for "why can't I afford to buy a home?"

A survey conducted for the real estate firm Royal LePage shows most want to own their own home at some point but a majority worry they'll never be able to afford one as the gap between house prices and their earning power widens.

Most Gen Ys see renting as a short-term solution but almost three quarters of respondents to the Leger Marketing poll in September were pessimistic about being able to own a home. More than 40 per cent also said the federal government's tighter mortgage rules affected their ability to buy.

Interestingly, 66 per cent of Baby Boomers in the poll  which had an error margin of plus or minus three per cent 19 times out of 20  also worried about home affordability.

The affordability issue is especially acute in British Columbia, where about one in five Gen Y respondents found renting preferable to home ownership, compared with less than 15 per cent nationally, and almost 40 per cent said they expected to rent their next primary residence.

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